The combination of two conventional heat pipe structures in an end-to-end opposing relationship, with one end of the combination being exposed and responsive to the temperature of monitored environment or object, while the heat input to the opposite end is controlled, is disclosed in detail in pending U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 713,175, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,236, entitled "Novel Heat Pipe Combination", filed Aug. 10, 1976, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. In the structure disclosed in this referenced application, adjacent condenser sections of the respective heat pipe sections combine to form a common condenser region which is in turn coupled to an appropriate heat sink. The temperature of the monitored end and the temperature of the controlled end of the heat pipe combination each produce a vaporization of the working fluid in the wick portion of the respective heat pipe sections, which results in a flow of the respective vaporized fluids in opposing directions which ultimately meet to form an interaction interface within the common condenser region. The position of the interaction interface is a function of the vapor pressures in the respective heat pipe sections, which in turn is a function of the temperatures and the heat source strengths at the monitored and controlled ends of the heat pipe combination. The same working fluid is employed in the respective heat pipe sections of the heat pipe combination.
The heat, or temperature, at the monitored end can be controlled or measured by controllably introducing heat to the evaporator section corresponding to the controlled end of the heat pipe combination.